“International Education and Global Workforce Development: A Dialogue with Business and Higher Education Stakeholders”

International Education & Global Workforce Development:
A Dialogue with Business and Higher Education Stakeholders’

Dr. Gene D. Block, Chancellor of UCLA hosted Association of International Educators, 6th Annual Roundtable Discussion October 23rd at Anderson School. The panelists comprised of the academicians and businesspeople stressed the importance of global education and its impact in rebuilding America’s global reputation. Among the issues discussed in the conference were the main objectives of Association of International Educators:

The Internationalization of higher education in the United States Curricula must be internationalized at all levels so that everyone who graduates from college in the U.S. receives an international education and foreign-language expertise. Every student will graduate from college with proficiency in a foreign language and a basic understanding of at least one world area.

Establishing study abroad as an integral component of undergraduate education
In a op-ed of the Christian Science Monitor, 9/11 Commission leaders Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton noted the critical importance of study abroad. They wrote: “The U.S. cannot conduct itself effectively in a competitive international environment when our most educated citizens lack minimal exposure to, and understanding of the world beyond U.S. border. Ignorance of the world is a national liability”.

Attracting International Students and Scholars: Restoring America’s Status as a Magnet for the World’s Future Leaders and Innovators have tremendous benefits such as, the opportunity to educate the world’s future leaders; the ability to attract the world’s best talent to our universities and research institutes; the educational benefits that our students receive from foreign professors and from having other cultures represented on campus and finally billions of dollars of spending in our economy.

Participants of the Conference were convinced that it is through international education that we establish a solid foundation for dialogue and partnership with the rest of the world and create the conditions for lasting global peace, security, and well-being.